# mollusca
## English
### Noun

mollusca pl (plural only)
* (archaic) Molluscs.
** 1851, S[amuel] P[ickworth] Woodward, “Classes of the Mollusca”, in A Manual of the Mollusca; or, A Rudimentary Treatise of Recent and Fossil Shells, London: John Weale, […], page 6:The mollusca are animals with soft bodies, enveloped in a muscular skin, and usually protected by a univalve or bivalve shell. […] The univalve mollusca are encephalous, or furnished with a distinct head; they have eyes and tentacula, and the mouth is armed with jaws.
** 1859 November 24, Charles Darwin, “Natural Selection”, in On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, […], London: John Murray, […], →OCLC, page 100:Turning for a very brief space to animals: on the land there are some hermaphrodites, as land-mollusca and earth-worms; but these all pair.
** 1862, Arthur Lutze, translated by Charles J[ulius] Hempel, “[Appendix.] The Human Body”, in Manual of Homœopathic Theory and Practice. Designed for the Use of Physicians and Families., New York, N.Y., Philadelphia, Pa.: […] William Radde, […], page 532:The amphibious animals are provided with special organs for the sense of smell, although a very delicate sense of smell is likewise met with among the crustacea, such as crabs, mollusca and insects.
** 1886 July, Keswal [pseudonym; W. F. Sinclair], “Notes on the Waters of Western India. Part I.—‘British Deccan and Khandesh.’”, in R[obert] A[rmitage] Sterndale, E[dward] H[amilton] Aitken, editors, The Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society, volume I, number 3, Bombay: […] [T]he Education Society’s Press […], page 114:Probably frogs, crabs, mollusca, and insects form their chief diet; […]
** 1910, Frank Leverett, Comparison of North American and European Glacial Deposits, Berlin: Gebrüder Borntraeger, page 302:The löss fauna is largely of terrestrial mollusca, as in America, […]
** 1940, Frank F[itch] Grout, “[The Sedimentary Rocks] Limestones”, in A Handbook of Rocks for Use Without the Petrographic Microscope, 6th edition, New York, N.Y.: D. Van Nostrand Company, Inc., […], page 169:The gentle slopes are favorable to the growth of various mollusca whose hard parts contribute additional material to the growing limestones.
** 1964, V[alentine] J[ackson] Chapman, Coastal Vegetation, Oxford, Oxon, […]: Pergamon Press; New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, →LCCN, pages 16 and 31:On salt marshes, burrowing crabs, mollusca and annelids undoubtedly assist in aeration of the soil. […] One can, for example, make a study of the algae that occur on the shells of some of the larger mollusca or on barnacles.

### See also

* Mollusca (taxonomic phylum)

## Latin
### Pronunciation

* mollusca: (Classical Latin) IPA: /molˈlus.ka/, [mɔlˈlʲʊs̠kä]
* mollusca: (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA: /molˈlus.ka/, [molˈluskä]
* molluscā: (Classical Latin) IPA: /molˈlus.kaː/, [mɔlˈlʲʊs̠käː]
* molluscā: (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA: /molˈlus.ka/, [molˈluskä]

### Etymology 1

Feminine of molluscus (“soft”), from mollis (“soft”).

#### Noun

mollusca f (genitive molluscae); first declension
* a kind of soft nut with a thin shell

##### Declension

First-declension noun.

##### Related terms

* molle
* mollēscō
* mollicellus
* mollicīna
* mollicomus
* molliculus
* mollificō
* mollificus
* mollīmentum
* molliō
* mollipēs
* mollis
* molliter
* mollitia
* mollitōrius
* mollitūdō
* mollītus
* molluscum
* molluscus

#### Adjective

mollusca
* inflection of molluscus:
** nominative/vocative feminine singular
** nominative/accusative/vocative neuter plural

#### Adjective

molluscā
* ablative feminine singular of molluscus

### Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

#### Pronunciation

* (Classical Latin) IPA: /molˈlus.ka/, [mɔlˈlʲʊs̠kä]
* (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA: /molˈlus.ka/, [molˈluskä]

#### Noun

mollusca
* nominative/accusative/vocative plural of molluscum